Welcome Back!

Hello LD Families,

The teachers at Lord Dufferin have been in this week getting ready for the arrival of all our students next Tuesday, September 2.  School will begin earlier this year, with entry time at 8:45am.  You will receive full schedule information the first week of school.

We hope you enjoy this coming long weekend and are looking forward to seeing you all on Tuesday back at school!

From your Lord Dufferin Staff

This is to inform you about the introduction of Canada’s new Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), which takes effect on July 1, 2014. CASL prohibits the sending of any type of electronic message that is commercial in nature unless the recipient has provided consent first. As a result, Toronto District School Board requires your consent to receive any electronic messages which contain advertising or promotions regarding school fundraisers, lunch programs, field trips, the sale of yearbooks, purchasing of student photos, books, prom or dance tickets, athletic events with an entry fee or similar events and offers.

If you wish to allow your email address to be used for the above communications from us, please provide consent by completing the form at:

https://surveys.tdsb.on.ca/index.php?r=survey/index/sid/412281/lang/en 

You will continue to receive school related non-commercial electronic messages. If you do not wish to receive commercial electronic messages no action is required.

You may choose to unsubscribe from commercial emails at any time by emailing casl@tdsb.on.ca. For more information, please visit the TDSB website. at www.tdsb.on.ca

Many Thanks

Mr. Green

Principal 

Lord Dufferin PS

Concert Today!

Our Spring Concert will be today (Wednesday) from 10:30-11:30am in the auditorium. Please join us!

Running and Reading Follow-Up

Congratulations once again to our amazing runners and readers. It has come to my attention that there may have been logistical issues around travel and addresses for the event. The organizers of the event are happy to speak with people who have concerns. Please contact the school and leave a message for Mrs. Page with your name and number and I will put you in touch with the organizers. 

Thanks,

Megan Page, LD blog editor

Congrats Runners and Readers!!

Congratulations to all the participants in Running and Reading!  They ran the 5k today and did incredibly well. Lord Dufferin students won the overall running challenge AND the overall reading challenge!!! Phenomenal work!  Go Dragons!!

Summer Camps Info Session

On May 27 from 3:30-8:00pm at Nelson Mandela, there will be an information session about different summer camp programs.  These programs are offered at little or no cost, and have different features and locations.  Please visit Nelson Mandela on the 27th to learn about some of the fun and interesting things your child could do during the summer.

Go Dragons!

Good luck to all of our runners and jumpers at the TDESAA track and field meet today!  Go dragons!

Transition to High School Workshop for Parents of Grade 8’s
Please join us and get information such as:

•   The difference between academic and applied courses
  
•   Learn about bridging courses
  
•   Course selection and how important it is
  
•   How to gain further supports for your child through High School
  
•   My Blue Print
  
•   Pathways to Education
  

Date: April 10, 2014
Time:6-8 pm
Location: 246 Sackville St Toronto, ON M5A 3S4

If you need more information,
please contact your school’s Community Support Worker:
Jodi Burton 416.573.9219 (Market Lane, Lord Dufferin, Nelson Mandela Park) Michael Papathanasakis 416.832.3164 (Rose Avenue, Sprucecourt, Winchester)

Room 212's Black History Month Biographies

The Story of Harriet Tubman

by

Katya (Grade 3, Room 212)

Harriet Tubman was born as a slave in a slave family. At that time, there was slavery in the southern states.  She had to do lots of work.  Harriet couldn't go to school, because slaves were not allowed to go to school.  All Harriet did was work and she and her family never got paid.  Harriet lived in a place called Maryland, in United States. Harriet had one brother.  When Harriet was 8 she had to go to the swamp to do her work.

    

When Harriet was a teenager, her owner tried to catch another slave running away from him, by throwing a metal weight at him. The slave was too fast and the metal weight hit Harriet’s head. Harriet fell unconscious. After that Harriet would fall asleep without being able to control it.

    

Harriet wanted to leave so one day Harriet left.  She came to a hollow log.  She was so tired she fell asleep.  In the morning when Harriet woke up she kept going. She came to a city.

She found a guy she liked and decide to marry him. His name was John. Slaves were not allowed to marry, so to marry all a slave had to do was jump over a broom with the person they were in love with and they had to hold hands too. Then they were married.

Harriet tried to convince John to escape with her, but he didn’t agree, so she decided to leave John and go.  The next morning Harriet was in Pennsylvania.  Pennsylvania was a free state, that meant Harriet was free. Free at last! This was Harriets dream.  She decided to go back and save other slaves from Maryland.  That night Harriet went  back to get the other slaves.  When Harriet got back to Maryland she waited till night to go get some slaves.  When the slaves were ready Harriet left with them to go to the nearest country.

The nearest country to the north was Canada so Harriet decided to go to Canada.  When they got to Canada, Harriet dropped the crowd off and travelled back to Maryland.  When Harriet got back she got another crowd and set off.

As the days, the months and the years passed by Harriet got older and older. One day Harriet was too old that she had to stay in bed. A few days after you probably don't want to hear this but at the age of 93 Harriet died. When Harriet died the people had a funeral for her and from this day on Harriet Tubman will always be remembered within books, history, internet and by the forgiven love within your heart.

The End

The story of Jackie Robinson

by

Jason Li (Grade 3, Room 212)

Jackie Robinson was born in  Pasadena,California ,1927 Pepper Street. His neighbors were mean to him,just because he was black. His family would set a good example. Whenever his mom Mallie had extra food she would share it with her neighbors. She even told Jackie and his brothers to do chores for their neighbors. It took several years but his mother was right, their neighbors became friendlier. As Jackie grew older he grew better at sports. The white people said rude stuff to him. A man named Karl Downs( he was the new minister of Mallie`s church), helped Jackie control his temper. Jackie Robinson wanted to marry Rachel( he liked what she said and thought), so he got married to her. Jackie fought in World War II from 1942 to 1944.

       In 1945, when he was 26 years old, he started playing in Negro league because at that time black people were not allowed to play major league baseball . Black people were not allowed to play major- league baseball since 1884.  The Negro leagues were far from perfect. They couldn’t rent rooms because, the white hotel owners would not rent rooms to the Negro leagues, so they had to sleep in the bus. In August of 1945, Branch Rickey was the president of New York's famous

Brooklyn Dodgers. Rickey made a stunning offer he wanted Jackie to play in the Dodgers.The Royals were the Dodgers training team if Jackie played well enough, he would move up to the Dodgers .             

On April 11th, 1947 he became a Brooklyn Dodger.It was Dodger v.s the New York Yankees.It was a pre-season game.Some people warned Jackie that if he kept on playing in the major league baseball they would hurt his family.Some people wanted to kill him.A few years later when they were playing against another team the umpire sent one of there teamates out he shouted and the umpire sent him out then he realized it was not because he was black it was against the rules to yell at the empire.He thought it was fair.              

Jackie Robinson had a good education.I learned from my

character that you have to be fair and everybody should be able to play major league baseball.Even if your black...It should be fair.

 The story of Ruby Bridges

by

Hanna Liauchonak (Grade 3, Room 212)

Ruby Bridges was born in Tylertown, Mississippi. Her family moved to New Orleans when she was four because they were very poor and wanted to have a better home.

Ruby had a pretty big family including two brothers,two sisters,a mom,a dad and a dog. Ruby`s mother stayed at home and took care of the house while Ruby`s father harvested crops. He lost his job later.

When Ruby`s family just came to New Orleans, they heard the judge said that blacks would go to the whites schools. Ruby felt happy but a bit scared because the white kids might insult her.

Every day Ruby`s family went to the church. They read Bible and hoped that God would make Ruby a smart brave girl.

When it was her first day at school, she felt excited and walked to school happily until a group of white  people stood in front of her. They carried signs saying “WHITES ONLY, KEEP THIS A WHITE SCHOOL”. Ruby felt she wanted to cry. But if she left school, she would let down not just herself, but everyone who tried to make this dream possible for her. So, she kept going.

Finally, when she came to school, the halls and classes were empty.  When she entered her class, she only saw her teacher Ms.Henry. Ms. Henry said, “Hello child, my name is Ms.Henry. I've seen you have been very sad.’’ Ruby replied, “Hello,my name is Ruby,Ruby Bridges. Why are the children not here today?” Ms. Henry answered, "it is because everyone is afraid to go to school. I am truly proud of you! Let's get to work!"

Ruby was very responsible and did her work very well. Ms. Henry liked Ruby a lot. For the first few months when girl walked to school, people looked angrily at her.

Once, when she got her report card, she opened it with her teacher and  was surprised to find straight “F’s”. The teacher said, “I did not give you straight “F`s”, Ruby.” said Ms. Henry.”It must be the Principal.” The Principal said it was because of Ruby`s skin colour.

One day, when Ruby was walking to school, a group of white people surrounded her.  Ms. Henry was watching.  Ruby started talking.  When she came to class, Ms. Henry asked her, “What did you say to those people?”  Ruby answered, “I did not say anything. I asked God  if he could help me.”

The next year, when she started grade 2, there were more children in her class. She saw every skin colour!  No one was left out and everyone was happy.  Best of all, no one held signs on the streets or screamed at her. Perhaps, they were tired of fighting for nothing.

“Thank you, God.” she thought.

THE STORY OF RUBY BRIDGES

by

Brishnah Ahmad (Grade 3, Room 212)

Ruby Bridges was born inside a small cabin(which is so tiny) right  beside Tylertown,Mississippi. Ruby Bridges did not have that much food to eat and drink,because Ruby did not have a rich family. Ruby had a mother, a father, two sisters, two brothers and a dog, in her family.  Ruby would just eat corn because her dad had a job of picking crops. In 1957 Ruby`s family went to New Orleans and moved into a house.  Each and every Sunday, Ruby`s family would go to Church and say:’’We would like our children to be near the Lord(which is Gods)spirit’’. Then some people, that the judge had ordered to go to Ruby`s home, came to Rubys home, and told them that Ruby had to go to the judge with her mother or father.

When Ruby was sent to the judge, three kids were already there, including Ruby. Ruby had to go to the judge because the judge ordered four kids to go to white school`s and Ruby was one of those children. All of those children and Ruby were allowed to go to a white school.  At that time all the school`s were separated. White people were supposed to go to white schools and black people had to go to black schools. Everyone liked that idea so they did what they were told.

Once Ruby was going to her school (William Frantz Elementary School)all the white people came rushing over, holding signs saying, that it was a white school and only white people could go inside only. For many days and months, Ruby would walk past the angry mob of white people shouting and saying bad things to her, but Ruby did not care about that. She would go past the mob and not say anything and have a little smile on her face. All the white parents would not send their children to school because there was a black child in the school(which is Ruby). At school Ruby would always sit nicely on her chair and do her class work. Ruby never got distracted from anything like a fly buzzing around or the sound wind rushing into the window. Ruby never felt lonely,shy or nervous. Ruby liked being the only child in the class. Ruby would quietly eat her lunch on her desk and sometimes stare at her teacher and look back whenever Mrs. Henry looked back.  Ruby`s teacher, Mrs.Henry always liked to ask Ruby questions about how she felt but Ruby would always give the same answer:’’I`m doing fine’’.

Then one day, when Mrs. Henry looked out the window as she usually did, she saw that Ruby stopped and was in the middle of the angry white mob. Mrs. Henry saw that Ruby was moving her lips.

Usually whenever Ruby came to school her lips were  not moving.  When Ruby  came to school,Mrs. Henry asked Ruby why she was speaking to the people, at that time Ruby became annoying. Ruby said that she did not talk to them. But Mrs. Henry said to Ruby that Ruby did talk to the people. Then Ruby said again that she did not. Ruby said that she was praying to the white people. Now every  morning and after school, Ruby would stop in front of the angry white mob and pray, and this is what she said: ‘’God, Please make these people happy and forgive them. I do not care if they say bad things to me .Those people have no idea what they are doing. Please forgive them for me’’.

I liked Ruby Bridges because she was a brave young girl. She was brave to go to William Frantz Elementary School while it was surrounded by an angry white mob.  I learned from Ruby Bridges that no matter what people say to you, you can stand up for yourself and you can also be really brave with people that tease you everytime you come to school.

Today is Pyjama Day!

Wear your favourite PJ's to school today!

Today is PINK day!

Stand up against bullying and wear your pink clothes today!!

209 Builds "the City"

We have decided to build a city using the wood and other materials. Today we began construction. Two students are sawing wooden rods and drilling holes in them to create telephone poles. They are going to then run wires between them and attach lights using electricity. 

Building in 209

We are about to start work on a special building project. Can't wait to see the models that students make with all of these great materials!

Boys' Basketball Update

Congratulations to the Senior Boys' Basketball team who won their playoff game last night against Sprucecourt.
Junior Boys' Basketball takes on Fern Avenue tonight - GOOD LUCK!!!!

Making our own Plays!

We are using Puppet Pals app on the iPad minis to create our own stories. The app allows us to use familiar characters, as well as photos of our friends, to make an entertaining story. 

Literacy in the Library

In the Library, students use the website, Starfall, to build English language skills.  Visit www.starfall.com to try some of the activities!

Place Value in Grade 1

Ms. Cunningham's class is learning to represent numbers using "place value".  They are using the SmartBoard to show how many 'tens' and 'ones' make up a number.  They are also using coins to show different values.

Building Early Literacy Skills

Ms. Parton is helping a Grade 1 student improve his reading skills in the Reading Recovery program.  They practise sounding out and spelling some words before writing a sentence.  Then, they read a book together.

Just Dance!

Mr. Creaner's class shows off their amazing dance moves.  They are keeping active, despite the winter weather!

Graphing in Ms. Jensen's Class

Ms. Jensen's class is learning about graphs.  They are learning how to collect data using a tally chart, and then graph it on a bar graph.

Room 224 Learns About Peter and the Wolf

Ms. Seibert's students are reading the story of Peter and the Wolf.  They are learning about the different musical motifs represented in Prokofiev's orchestral work and the instruments that he used for each character.  Ms. Seibert's class also went to hear the Toronto Symphony Orchestra perform "Peter and the Wolf" at Roy Thompson Hall.

LD Wins! 43-17

Senior boys' basketball wins 43-17 over Nelson Mandela. Go Dragons!

Junior Boys' Basketball Wins Again!

Congrats to our Jr. Boys' Basketball team who won a close game against Withrow tonight.  Final score: 24-21.

Live! From the Aquarium

Room 209 is having a great time at the aquarium!!

iPad Printing Practice

We use iPad apps to practise our lower case letters. We also use a special pen that is easy to hold and move. 

Science Experiments!

Room 209 is conducting some experiments to observe the properties of liquids and solids and to determine which mixtures will be heterogeneous and which will be homogeneous. 

Weather Alert

Make sure you dress warm tomorrow. It's going to be a cold one. Please check the TDSB website for updates on bussing.